Bottle capper



Dec. l1, 1934. H. G, RICE BOTTLE CAPPER Filed Sept. l. 1931 Patented Dec. 11, 1934 ...RATE-Nr' -foFlFlc-fa BOTTLE-GAIPER f:HaroldGf-Rioe.-Evanstonlll., assigner; by mesne \-assignments, to' Indestro ManfactlringCerp., ."Chicago; Ill., a corporatonoflllinois .Application September 1g1931," Serial No. 560,572

5 Claims.

Myinvention relates'to bottlecappers and has 'as an 'object theprovision vof a device'which is VA"especiallydesigned for applying'to 'bottles caps -ofv thawed-known ".Crow'n type; said device being"A simple in "construction, "inexpensive to fab- "'ricate," rugged Aand generally eicient.

A Hfurther"object of'my' inventionv is `to provide 1in'. a bottle'capper' having arotary."shaft with anoperating handle .or crank secured there- '10 to, stop 'means for"r'etaining' the handleand capping lmember 'elevated position. 'whereby the machine may be loperated rapidly ;and conveniently in "the cappingof a large number of bottles.

Various otherobjects and.v advantages willv become apparent as the description proceeds.

"Referring now tothe drawings forming a part of this specification and illustratinga preferred 'embodiment 'of my invention,

Figure 1 is a perspective 'view of an improved bottle Cappell embodying my invention with `a .bottle in capping position'thereon.

Figure. 2\..is.an enlarged` fragmentary eleva- ...tional detailof a portion .ofthe same.

Fig.. 3 isfan .elevational view froma.` plane 4.is a sectional View .takensubstantiallyion .ltheline 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5. is a plan. view. fof--the operating. shaft of .the-device. v

. I have vshown myinventionas.applied-.to a-type .of-bottle' capper vsuch..-aswthat disclosed. and .claimed-.inV my Patent No. 1,805,295, granted May 12,.-..1931. However,- my-.invention...is .applicable to various-othentypes. of-bottle .cappersandi is 4vnot limited to. the. specicitype .shown herein.

Referring tothe drawing, the numeral' A10 rep- .l resents.- abaseportion,4 the corners of Ywhich .may @beA perforated vas. Vat...11 for nails, screws .or the 1like,fwhereby-the -device.may-1be-'secured toa @table-:or vother support. fand: in my` .preferredembodiment integral therewith',1is a pedestal 13'fwhichf.- as =`shown 1 clearlyv Ain Fig. 1, rises substantially lv'ertic'ally froni the Rising* from the.. -base,

v"formed forwardly 'ofthe 'sleeve' 16 and communi- Acates therewith. Theisleeve 16 -is-v aperturedA 'as -at-'20; which'V 'aperture may be -adjacent'theV upper "por-tion of the sleeve asl-shown,` the peripheral edge ofthe'sleevebeing indented as at -21 opposite the Iaperture '20.

Slidably-mounted infthe sleeve-18 is a-plunger 5:22 carrying adjacentitslower -extren'iity acap- --ping-head` 23. '-'Thefplu-nger" has) 'formed on-.one f sidel thereof; aplurality of teeth" 244 constituting a rack, and adjacent' theupperandflowerextremitiesof-the rack'shoulders 25 extend-beyond ftheilouter' edges of the yteeth *24' so as-to provide stops-for limiting' the vertical-displacement Uof 1the-plungeri" Rotatably and `slida-bly mounted inthe sleeve `16isaffsl'i'aft 27 having-1securedtheretoa radi- -fallyextending operating' handle 5 -or-"cra`nkI 28.

Formed on the shaft 271 is a plurality-fof-teeth-SO constituting a pinion cooperating with lthe rack yteeth 24. lAdjacent 4the pinion teeth-'30eme shaft "27 isof reduced diameter as shown `at 31,*the outverextremity of this reduced portion '-being threaded to engage a nut 32 or the like. A heli- Ycal compression spring' 33 is coiledaround the '-reduced'portion 31 Aof theshaft between @the nut i 32 and the peripheral face of the sleeve 16 so asl-to normallyu-rge the shaft 2'7-toward=the left (Fig.

2)V and the pinion teeth 30 into engagement with the rack teeth 24.

''The shaft r27 is provided with a radially extendn"ingfcavity-35. "This cavity isfsoI-placed-as4 to v-lce substantially inline with the aperture 20 yof the sleeve-16 whenthe device -is in operative position, land.' the `'aperture20 and cavity-35 are so arranged l `astobe in registry Witheach other when the. han- -dlei28s'is'in elevated position. Seated'in'thecavity"35A is. a. helical confipression.*springv 36-.and a "ball 37; .the spring 36 vresiliently urging the ball 'outwa'rdlyrof theshaft. --As clearly-shown at 38 :fin Fig; L1,1fthe spring-and ball may be retained in thecavityy afterthey` have -been inserted therein by -spread-ingthemetal of .the shaft on oppo- ..site sides .and adjacent'the outer edge of. the cavity. `fThis may be accomplished by striking .the "shaft'27 adjacent the opening of the cavity 35 'with a blunt instrument, "or in' any other `suitable manner.

The operation of the device is thought to' be obvious from the above description. The pinion 30 of the shaft 2'7 is normally in engagement with the rack teeth 24 of the plunger 22, so that the plunger may be reciprocated by means of the handle 28. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2 (dotted in Fig. 2) the device may be adjusted for bottles of CLI different sizes by shifting the shaft 27 to the right (Fig. 2) against the resilient action of the spring 33 so as to disengage the pinion from the rack, whereupon the plunger 22 may be axially displaced upwardly or downwardly. After the plunger has been so adjusted the shaft 27 is released and is moved back to normal position' by the spring 33.

After a capping operation, most conveniently accomplished by rotating the handle 28 downwardly, the handle is returned to elevated posi-v tion substantially as shown in Fig. 3, so that the ball 37, urged by the spring 36, slips into the cavity 20 of the sleeve 16, when it comes into registry with the cavity, as shown best in Fig. e. In this way the handle 28 is retained in elevated position while the capped bottle is removed from base 10 and an uncapped bottle is brought into capping position. Hence both hands of the operator are left free to manipulate the bottles between the successive capping operations. Otherwise, in the absence of such retaining means, the handle would be likely to drop by gravity and the plunger and capping member would be in a position to impede the placing of a new bottle on the base. Hence, it will be seen that, by means of my improvement, a great deal of time may be saved when a large number of bottles are to be capped and much inconvenience and annoyance may be avoided and a large number of bottles may be capped most expeditiously.

Various modifications, variations and improvements coming within the spirit of my invention will doubtless occur to those skilled in the art and hence I do not wish to be limited to the specici form disclosed herein or uses mentioned except tothe extent indicated in the appended claims, which are to be interpreted as broadly as the state of the art will permit.

I claim as my invention:

l. In a device of the class described, the combination of a support, a bearing carried thereby, a capping member reciprocally carried by said support and having rack teeth formed thereon, a shaft rotatably mounted in said bearing and having a pinion formed thereon, said pinion being normally in cooperative relation with said rack, a handle carried by said pinion, and means for locking said pinion and capping member in elevated position, said means comprising a resilient member interengaging between said shaft and said bearing and rendered effective or ineffective by movement of said shaft.

2. In a device of the class described, the combination of a support having a horizontal bearing portion, said bearing portion having a depression on the inner wall thereof, a capping member reciprocally carried by said support, a shaft rotatably mounted in said bearing, said shaft having a substantially radial cavity formed therein, and means for locking said shaft in a predetermined axial position relative to said bearing comprising a resilient member and an interlocking member seated within the cavity of said shaft, said interlocking member being urged outwardly by said resilient member, whereby it may engage in the cavity of said bearing. when moved into registry therewith.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination of a support having a horizontal bearing portion, said bearing portion having a depression on the inner wall thereof, a capping member reciprocally carried by said support, a shaft rotatably mounted in said bearing, said shaft having a substantially radial cavity formed therein, and means for locking said shaft in a predetermined axial position relative to said bearing comprising a resilient member and a ball seated Within the cavity of said shaft, said ball being urged outwardly by said resilient member, whereby it may engage in the cavity of said bearing when moved into registry therewith.

4L In a device of the class described, the combination of a frame comprising a base portion and a vertical, overhanging guide portion and having a pair of spaced axial horizontal bearing apertures of different diameters adjacent said guide portion, a capping member vertically slidable in said guide portion and having rack teeth formed thereon, a shaft having trunnions of different diameters rotatably journaled in and extending outward oi said bearings and having a pinion thereon of external diameter not greater than the diameter of the larger of said apertures and having an endwise displacement within said bearing sufcient to disengage said pinion from the rack teeth of said plunger, a compression spring disposed on said smaller trunnion extension and serving to maintain said pinion at operative engagement with the rack while permitting a suiioient sliding movement of the pinion to unmesh the same from the rack so as to permit free sliding movement of the capping member, and means for locking said shaft relative to said guide portion whereby said capping member may be retained in elevated position.

5. In a device of the classdescribed, the combination of a frame comprising a base portion and a vertical, overhanging guide portion and having a pair of spaced axial horizontal bearing apertures of `different diameters adjacent said guide portion, a capping member vertically slidable in said guide portion and having rack teeth formed thereon, a shaft having trunnions of different diameters rotatably journaled in and extending outward of said bearings and having a pinion thereon of external diameter not greater than the diameter of the larger of said apertures and having an endwise displacement within said bearing suiiicient to disengage said pinion from the rack teeth of said plimger, a compression spring disposed on said smaller trunnion extension and serving to maintain said pinion at operative engagement with the rack while permitting a sufficient sliding movement of the pinion to unmesh the same from the rack so as to permit free sliding movement of the capping member, and means for locking said shaft relative to said guide portion whereby saidl capping member may be retained in elevated position, said locking means being rendered operative or inoperative by displacement of said shaft.

HAROLD G. RICE. 

